


places aren't the only destinations

by Cheesecloth



Series: Asexual Awareness Week [8]
Category: Good Omens (TV)
Genre: Asexual Relationship, Fluff without Plot, Gen, Post-Apocalypse
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-25
Updated: 2020-10-25
Packaged: 2021-03-08 21:14:19
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,389
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27192938
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Cheesecloth/pseuds/Cheesecloth
Summary: To have a friend for a few years is an intensely beautiful thing, so imagine a couple of thousand years...Aziraphale circles Crowley for once.
Relationships: Aziraphale/Crowley (Good Omens)
Series: Asexual Awareness Week [8]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1522199
Comments: 4
Kudos: 23





	places aren't the only destinations

The thought of it prickled along Aziraphale's spine. It wasn't an unpleasant sensation, but more of a curious one. 

It was always... monumental... when you discover something your friend has always done. A habit, or a tick. Something that was always there, and you somehow never truly notice it. 

Crowley, in the thousands of years they had known one another, had a habit of circling him. The most recent time had been during the stress of the almost-apocalypse when he had paint on his coat. 

Aziraphale pondered over it for a week and a half before coming to a decision. He's gotten better at making and acting on decisions, as of late. He reveled in the freedom of it. 

  
"Hey angel," Crowley drawled once Aziraphale stepped out of the shop. His signature smirk shone through the light rain. He held an elegant and expensive umbrella over to block Aziraphale from the rain's drizzle. It was a very unnecessary thing. Aziraphale could have miracled the rain to never touch him. But Crowley was insistent on gestures. 

Aziraphale let that thought turn in his head before grinning helplessly at his friend. 

"Let's have that walk then, shall we?" 

Crowley stepped in close and offered his arm. Another thought intermingled in the swirling mess of his mind, but he scolded it with a promise of getting to it later. 

He allowed their arms to twine. Crowley's intense expression dipped subtly into a softer one. 

The park was a classic. They strolled through the swaying dewy grass rather than the paved sidewalk. His shoes grew darker with the wet of it. It filled Aziraphale with simple joy. He didn't feel its cold. Instead, he felt the easy, uncomplicated sensation of nature, even with only a small capacity of it actually affecting his corporation. 

Crowley paused and shifted the umbrella so his face was out of its protection. 

"Oh," he said conversationally, "rain's stopped, angel. Hold on, lemme close this thing up." 

Aziraphale watched the demon part from him to smoothly shut the umbrella and shake it of water droplets. 

The perfect chance! 

Aziraphale remembered with a new clarity of all the times Crowley had circled him. He didn't have the same serpent hips as the demon, but he managed the slow stride around Crowley just fine. 

It felt different. Aziraphale still didn't understand why Crowley did it, but there was something about it that felt... tangible. 

Meanwhile, Crowley's gaze snatched up and followed Aziraphale's circle with a bright red face. He appears to have lost his breath. Another thought turns in his mind. 

"Wh-what the _heaven_ are you doing, angel?" He miracled the umbrella away and his empty hands clenched uncertainly at his sides. With the trademark black that Crowley wore, it reminded Aziraphale of an emperor penguin. 

"I'm circling you, my dear." He answered simply. 

Crowley watched helplessly as Aziraphale slowly circled him again while looking around the empty early morning park. "Gk! Why?" 

That made Aziraphale pause. His eyes searched Crowley's, but he couldn't get past the glasses. So he let his other eyes, the ones beyond his corporation, observe his friend. 

Crowley twitched. 

"It's something I noticed that you do around me, dear boy," Aziraphale finally relents. "I have wondered though, why you do it at _all_..." 

Crowley frowns, so Aziraphale circles him once more. 

"I... "

Aziraphale stepped close, something in him wanting to be nearer. Who would he be if he denied his wants? 

"Yes, Crowley?" 

Crowley shook slightly, but then he straightened his form as much as a serpent could. 

"I-I do it because you're my friend." 

Now Aziraphale frowns. "Er, I'm not quite sure I understand-" 

"When I do it, I... I'm telling the world that you're _my_ friend," Crowley admits quietly. It's a wonder he says it at all. Aziraphale's heart clenches with his bravery, and he wants to hug the demon close. 

Again, who would he be if he denied his wants? He crushes Crowley in a tight embrace. His arms looped around the demon's shoulders, and he felt him relax into it so quickly. 

"Oh, Crowley-" he whispers. 

"It's because you're my friend," Crowley continues, feeling braver now that his expressions were hidden in the warmth of Aziraphale, "and that no one, no demon or angel, or Her, could possibly take you away," he says. "-Unless you wanted to," he adds quickly. 

Aziraphale felt tears prickling at his eyes, and he shut them and smushed his face in Crowley's soft ginger hair. 

"We've been friends for millennia, angel." Oh dear Lord, how was Crowley still so brave? How did he have the strength to say everything Aziraphale wished he could say in return so easily? "And... and I want to protect this. Us. Er, I've gotten a little protective of our being allowed to convene together... but... angel you're my closest friend, and there's nothing they could do to stop what I feel-" 

Aziraphale smiled into the demon's hair. All at once, the thoughts that turned in his head burned bright with revelation. The eyes beyond his corporation crinkled. It was as though his whole being sung with a twinkling smile. Something in Crowley melted further into the embrace, and Aziraphale's heart would just not relent. 

"You'd protect our friendship, you'd protect me... from heaven, hell, and... and Her, my dear? That's _really_ what this has been all this time?" 

Crowley pulls away just enough to look at him. He looks sheepish, and his brow furrows in a sad sort of worry. As though Aziraphale were just about to reject him. Reject their friendship. _Impossible_. 

"Well, my dear," he continues quickly, so Crowley's anxious mind doesn't get ahead of him, "I feel ashamed. Perhaps I should have been circling you as well for millennia. After all, I feel similarly. Blast it all, dear, but no one can take this away from us," Aziraphale says calmly with a hint of a growl. 

The eyes on his corporation are glowing. He can feel the holy heat of it. A threat from a principality. "I'd like to see them try." 

Crowley drops his head against Aziraphale, obviously overwhelmed. "Angel..." 

"You're my best friend Crowley." 

There's a miraculous flow of tears from under Crowley's glasses and onto Aziraphale's sweater. Aziraphale is amazed, but he feels no worry. He can sense the growing brightness of Love. 

It's not eros, Aziraphale notes to himself. That's more than fine. This is something just as strong but has a different taste to it. 

Yes, they are friends. 

He thoroughly regrets denying it during the threat of the apocalypse. It was never true. They are friends. They have always been friends. They will always be friends. 

He clutches Crowley closer to him with happy tears in his own eyes. 

No, he will not deny this anymore. After all, who would he be if he were to deny his wants? To deny that he wants to cling to Crowley right now? To deny their leisurely outings through the park? Their trips around the world for good wine, tasty food, and excellent books? Their light pranks on those who deserve it, and their miracles for those who need it? Their trips to rich car parks where Crowley delights in making greedy rich patrons fume in their jealousy over Crowley's beloved Bentley? 

Who would he be if he were to deny that he loves to see Crowley smile? To see him happy and snarky? To be there when the demon feels anxious or saddened by the long history of the world? To just... be at his side. 

"Forever, Crowley," he promises. 

The poor overwhelmed demon turns into putty in Aziraphale's arms, and the angel's thoughts are spent and calm. His wings circle and hold Crowley. He never wants to move. 

"Hngk," Crowley startles, and Aziraphale's eyes sharpen on the sudden movement in the park now that the rain has long ended. "I believe that is the sound of the hot dog cartman. Fancy a snack, angel?" Crowley asks with a softness Aziraphale had always seen in him. Always adored. 

Bollocks to never wanting to move, he has another want now. Crowley's itching to indulge him, and really, just who would he be to deny all his wants... big, small, or forever? 

"Yes, my dear, I do fancy one or two," he wiggles excitably. 

Crowley laughs brightly. 

**Author's Note:**

> -
> 
> due to how ridiculously busy i have been this whole month, I don't think there will be any more ace fics for this week. i had planned for them,,, but,,, pandemic-typical stress & school saw to that :( 
> 
> either way, HAPPY ASEXUAL AWARENESS WEEEK!!!!!!!


End file.
